This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 105,291, patented Nov. 17, 1989, U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,310 filed Oct. 5, 1987, which is assigned to the same assignee as this invention.
Many species of fish are frequently found in environments containing snags such as brush, stumps, sticks, rocks, weeds, grass, and other growing plants. To catch the fish located in such a habitat, it is necessary to cast or troll a fish bait close to or through the snags. A common result is that the bait becomes caught on a snag or that some part of the snag becomes caught on the hooks, thus rendering the lure ineffective for catching the fish. Many attempts have been made to provide fishing baits with hooks guards and other devices for preventing the baits from becoming entangled with snags. Such baits are commonly described as being "weedless". However, prior attempts to make fishing baits weedless suffer from the defects that they make it difficult to hook a striking fish, or they make the bait unattractive to the fish or difficult to cast or troll.